1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a method for conducting a treatment program in a preparation chamber of a food preparation appliance, in which the preparation chamber atmosphere is detected by at least one sensor unit and the treatment program is conducted as a function of the detected values and of values stored in a memory unit.
2. Related Technology
The conducting of a treatment program, especially a cooking program in a food preparation appliance plays an increasingly important role, especially in the case of food preparation appliances for large kitchens and canteens. So far, above all, humidity and temperature sensors were used in food preparation appliances. These sensors serve for the determination of conditions in a preparation chamber, but conclusions regarding the state of a cooking product placed in the preparation chamber remain limited.
More accurate information about the state of the cooking product can be obtained if one or more temperature sensors are introduced into the cooking product itself. For example, a food preparation appliance with a cooking process sensor to be introduced into a cooking product is known from DE 199 45 021 A1, in which a treatment program is conducted based on the temperatures measured within the cooking product by the cooking process sensor. Patent WO 2004/109246 A1 discloses another cooking process sensor that makes it possible, for example, to determine physical property values for cooking product evaluation. However, the introduction of a cooking process sensor into the cooking product is cumbersome, is a source for erroneous operation and leads to an unsightly insertion spot in the cooking product.
As an alternative to such cooking process sensors, contactless sensors are also known. An efficient gas sensor in the form of a gas sensor array is known, for example, from DE 44 23 289 C1. The gas sensor disclosed there is able to distinguish different complex odors from one another with the aid of an extensive signal pattern using a number of sensor areas. Thus, in principle, such a gas sensor array is able to track complex chemical processes, such as, for example, those that occur during the cooking of foods, based on the chemical composition of the atmosphere surrounding the cooking product. A food preparation appliance with such a gas sensor system, as well as a generic method for conducting a treatment program based on these measured values is known from DE 10 2004 062 737 A1. In the method disclosed in DE 10 2004 062 737 A1 during cooking the cooking chamber atmosphere is analyzed with a sensor and the treatment program is conducted within a predetermined bandwidth of previously stored target values. A disadvantage of this state of the art is that the user must first make a selection by an input into the food preparation appliance in order to start the correct treatment program.
A food preparation appliance for completely automatic cooking using a cooking process sensor to be introduced into the cooking product as well as performance of a cluster analysis is known from EP 1 666 798 A1.